Report: Peyton hits a plateau

With each passing day, it seems less and less likely that Peyton Manning ever will play again for the Colts. The next question is whether he ever will play again for anyone.

On that point, there are ominous indications. Peter King of Sports Illustrated reported during last night’s Pro Bowl pregame on NBC that Manning isn’t doing well. Now, Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports reports that Manning has not shown improvement in the velocity of his passes since he began throwing again in December.

Two unnamed “league-affiliated doctors with experience in spinal fusion surgery” tell Cole that it could take up to a year for Manning to know if he can return to action.

As Cole points out, Manning naturally remains optimistic and determined. But if the nerves don’t improve, there’s really nothing he can do.

And so while his status with the Colts will be known with certainty soon, everything else about his future will remain uncertain for weeks, maybe months. Maybe longer.

Im not a Colts fan but enjoyed watching Peyton play. Peyton has nothing to prove, he should take his money and rings, go hang out with his family and enjoy the fruits of all his labors. the HOF will be calling soon.

No matter what happens, Peyton still has a great resume. True, he wasn’t as effective in the playoffs as some of the greats, but he still has a magnificent regular season record, a Super Bowl ring, a Super Bowl MVP award, and so on. Personally, I think he should call it a day, given the seriousness of his situation. One very nasty hit, and the quality of his life could be severely compromised.

Not a Colts fan, but it will be atrocious if we don’t get to see him play again. He deserved more than just one ring. Polian absolutely surrounded him with crap.
Manning, take all the time you need to heal, comeback to a team like the niners or the Skins. They have good defense.

He’s done. Nerves don’t come back that easily especially at his age. If you ever had a disc blow out in your back that numbs your foot or something similar like a disc in your neck, it never comes back at full strength. You can squeeze your hand or jump up and down and it doent matter….you can do all the rehab you want. If its gone, its gone.

bspurloc says:Jan 31, 2012 12:16 AM

“retire peyton u got th wins, the rings and lots of records and yards so enjoy cash and retire and be a coach”

rings???? peyton has A ring. the rest are losses.
When Eli wins Sunday he will have RINGS

I was never a Manning fan because of the Manning face and the fact that he has thrown his teammates under the bus.

But I started to like him once I actually watched him play. He and Troy Polamalu are the only two players that consistently made me laugh out loud because of the level of skill that they were playing with.

I don’t want to say that Wayne and Harrison weren’t good receivers because they were; but they were not play makers. They weren’t jumping up and taking the ball off of the DBs like Calvin/Andre Johnson and Moss. They weren’t catching a pass and then making 4 guys miss on their way to the endzone, like Santonio Holmes used to or like Steve Smith still does; They weren’t plowing DBs over like Brandon Marshall does.

Those guys were good receivers because Manning hit them in stride play after play after play, right over the shoulder, where only they have a play on the ball.

For the last 3 years, I don’t even think Reggie Wayne was getting open. The DB was usually running with Wayne in the games that I saw, yet the ball was just thrown as perfectly as a ball could ever be thrown.

Aaron Rodgers is the only other QB who I’ve seen thread the needle quite that well. He did it for about 8 games earlier this season. Manning pretty much did it all of the time.

This is nothing against Brees or Rodgers because they are two of my favorite players outside of my favorite team, but they have big physical receivers who get freakishly wide open. Manning never quite had that luxury.

I just think the game will lose so much without Manning, and I’m not even close to a Colts fan.

bigzant82 says:
Jan 30, 2012 11:23 PM
retire peyton u got th wins, the rings and lots of records and yards so enjoy cash and retire and be a coach
====================
No he got “the ring”. The other Manning brother will have “the rings” after next Sundays game.

Such a shame. As much as I hated him for all the hell he gave the Texans all these years, he shouldn’t be going out like this. Hope he can recover fully, and not have any more complications. But I think he’s done regardless. Just too much risk in reinjuring if he plays again that could lead to something very bad down the line.

formervikingfan says:Jan 31, 2012 1:21 AM

Retire bro! You’ve had a great career, you’re headed to the HOF, enough cash to last a few lifetimes, beautiful wife..etc etc.

Move on to coaching where no doubt you’ll go HOF on that side of the ball too..

From a work accident I had a triple cervical fusion C-5,6&7 three years ago my neck is worse then before the surgery and is a mess. I also have a bulging disc at L-5/S-1 which is unoperable. My spine is thrashed. I would hope for some miracle for Peyton but unfortunately, I feel his time as an active player are over.

Thanks for all the great memories Peyton and we’ll be seeing you on the sidelines.

grannyvi4 says:Jan 31, 2012 1:55 AM

It’s time to hang up the cleats and pursue your career as an analyst on one of the networks. You know they’d love to have you…and pay you mucho bucks to add your perspective on the game and your humor. Go out with style and class while you still have both.

packersareandwillalwaysbebetterthanthebears says:
Jan 30, 2012 11:28 PM
To whatever team gets him, do not make the same mistake the Colts did and make him pass a damn physical before you start signing him checks…

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The Colts have him 26 million as a sign of respect for what he’s done for the organization. They also gave him an entire year to heal up and be ready. When he’s Peyton Manning, that isn’t a mistake. You do that kind of thing for Peyton.

He’s not a random backup linebacker you make pass a physical or even a mediocre QB. He’s basically the Colts over the last 20 years.

Somewhere,
Robe Lowe is smiling.”
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I doubt that actually. He might find a momentary bit of joy in the fact that all the “insiders” that mocked him will have to admit that he was right (of course, most still won’t credit him with being the first to break the story if that’s the case), but Lowe is a big time Colts fan because he’s a big Peyton Manning fan. I doubt he’ll be too happy to see his favorite player’s career end like this.

retire peyton u got th wins, the rings and lots of records and yards so enjoy cash and retire and be a coach”
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Well, Peyton has the wins, lot of yards, and a SB ring, but how many records does he actually have? Brady took his single season TD record. Brees has the single season yards record. Rodgers has the highest single season QB rating. I know everyone figured Peyton would eventually break a number of Favre’s records, but he was still a bit behind on passing yards, TDs, wins, etc. So, if this is it, I don’t know that he’ll be retiring with any significant records. That’s not to say that he still won’t have been one of the best to ever play the game, just that he won’t have his name on a bunch of records.

As for becoming a coach, I doubt it. I think he certainly has the potential to be one, but the man has an incredible amount of money in the bank, and coaches work up to 14-16 hours a day pretty much every day of the week. After busting his butt the way he did as a player for all those years, would he really jump right back in for even more hours a day as a coach, or would he want to actually spend some time with his family? I think it’s very likely that he could end up as part of the Colts organization if he retires rather than force Irsay to release him (maybe start out with a deal similar to what the Packers offered Favre to stay retired), but I don’t think it will be as a coach. Like Jordan, I think Peyton will continue to get advertising work (he’s put a lot of effort into crafting a bankable public persona) and he still runs the QB camp with his brother. If he decides not to take a position with any franchise, does anyone think Peyton would have any trouble getting a sweet media deal? In other words, he’ll still have more than enough to keep himself busy, with countless potential career moves available to him even if his injury forces him to retire.

always unfortunate to see a guy forced out by injuries before he’s ready to go. especially a Hall of Famer like Peyton Manning. hope your nerves heal buddy, it would be a privilege to watch you quarterback a few more years before calling it quits on your own terms.

vincentbojackson says:Jan 31, 2012 3:42 AM

One option you don’t hear anyone discussing is the possibility he may choose to lay out next season and get another full year of rehab before deciding on signing somewhere or retiring.

Sure he’d be another year older, but it sounds like he may need significantly more time to heal and to determine if he can regain his arm strength.

When I asked a Colts fan about the possibility of Peyton leaving, he said: “The saddest thing is that when he lost to the Jets in the 2010 Wild Card game, no one even considered that it could be his last game as a Colt. That alone has made everything that has transpired since so much more impossible to absorb.”

If he isn’t playing for the Colts next year, I hope for the sake of the league that the above sentiment is still about “his last game as a Colt” and not “his last game as a player.” He’s one of the greatest of all time and I pray for his recovery so that he can close out his career on his own terms, the way a player and person of his caliber truly deserves.

footballprophet says:Jan 31, 2012 5:06 AM

Sources are Peter King and Yahoo Sports lol, who’s next Madam Keto and her Taro Cards?

bucks12965 says:Jan 31, 2012 5:46 AM

Is Papa John really that tall?

nesuperfan says:Jan 31, 2012 5:47 AM

bigzant82 says:Jan 30, 2012 11:23 PM

retire peyton u got th wins, the rings and lots of records and yards so enjoy cash and retire and be a coach
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Small correction: The ring.

Why would he want to coach though? VERY long hours away from his family and young kids, and not great pay relative to what he is used to being paid (Do you think he really starts as a high-paid head coach? No way).

If he does anything, it will be as an analyst on TV. For his name recognition, better money than coaching, and limited hours.

BernardPollardIsAnAss says:Jan 31, 2012 5:54 AM

A real shame. Patriots fans will miss that rivalry.

tennesseeoilers says:Jan 31, 2012 6:12 AM

If Peyton retires, it will be a huge loss for the NFL and its fans. I’ve had the privilege of seeing the modern era’s greatest quarterbacks play in person; from Joe Montana in the ’80s to multiple games featuring Brett Farve, Tom Brady, and Peyton, among others. And, unfortunately for my Titans, Peyton has been, by far, the most stunning of them to watch live.

I dont think anyone would hold it against him for hanging them up. He’s proven that he’s one of the best.

Even if you do get healthy, maybe coming back and exposing yourself to more damage isn’t the smartest thing to do.

nationalmediacansuckit says:Jan 31, 2012 6:21 AM

bigzant82 says:
Jan 30, 2012 11:23 PM
retire peyton u got th wins, the rings and lots of records and yards so enjoy cash and retire and be a coach
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You mean then RING, right. Look Indy has rode this guy and now wheels are coming off. Indy has never had never had a good team, just a great QB who hid every single flaw and this season proved it.

contract says:Jan 31, 2012 6:39 AM

Boy, Jim Irsay’s office sure has a lot of leaks. Either that or he’s running a full blown anti-Manning propaganda campaign.

edrooney says:Jan 31, 2012 6:40 AM

bigzant82 says:
Jan 30, 2012 11:23 PM
retire peyton u got th wins, the rings and lots of records and yards so enjoy cash and retire and be a coach

Ring, singular. He only won one SB,which may be a driving factor to return to the field.

This weekend’s got to be tough on him, watching his rival face off against his younger brother in the house he ‘helped build’.

I hope he plays again, as a Pats fan, I loved the Manning / Brady rivalry. I hope it’s not over (but I fear it is).

xmgmx says:Jan 31, 2012 6:45 AM

@donny1rodriguez
Oh yeah, heard it here first!! It will be the last place anyone sees it, because it’s the dumbest thing ever mentioned on the internet as a whole.

Peyton will turn 36 in March. He has a persistent neck injury, which leaves him one bad hit away from retirement. If he’s not returning to the Colts, then he’ll need to learn a new system wherever he goes — and it often can take any experienced QB a year to get comfortable in a new system. Plus older QBs, even without neck problems, tend to take longer to recover from injuries.

I love Peyton. But how much tread is truly left on those tires — for any team?

….. and should P. Manning never play another down, his desire to play for only one team will come true.

rugdaniels says:Jan 31, 2012 8:15 AM

I wouldn’t want to see Peyton playing at 50 or 60% in another uniform. Even though at that fraction of his old self he’d still be an above average QB, I hope he steps aside.

Peyton’s got a second career in broadcasting and enough money to do nothing if that’s what he choses. The guy could probably coach if he wanted.

It’s very sad that Manning’s not going to end his career walking away when he wants, but he can still retire w/out tarnishing his legacy. It’s bad now, but if he gives it a go w/ another team and fails, it would be much worse.

anrgydeafman says:Jan 31, 2012 8:17 AM

Peyton,

You already accomplished so much so just retire…if not for your own sake, then for sake of your children who you just had last year…they will want to be able to play with their father rather than care for their disabled father in wheelchair should anything happen to your neck if you try to come back.

Just retire and if you can’t live without football, be a coach, an analyst, etc…it still pays good and you still would be involved in football.

Peyton Manning and Jim Irsay have wisely put off this story during Super Bowl week. But you’d think that, as soon as the Super Bowl is over, that these two will be back at it again. Andrew Luck will be the Colts quarterback next season.

Thumbs up if you believe there will be a goober fan who will come and post here that Peyton will sign with their team and lead them to a Super Bowl victory.

pondbridge says:Jan 31, 2012 8:28 AM

Peyton:

Walk away from the game while you can, become an Hall of Famer in 5 years time and immediately become an OC. You will be widely regarded as the best OC in the league for a passing offense team (in other words, NOT Indy) within 2 years and a top Head Coach soon after.

Stop competing with Brady– next, go after Belichick (and I say that as a Pats’ fan)

1. Rings don’t tell the whole story. Marino never got any and is still regarded as one of the all time greats. It is a TEAM game.
2. He never threw any of his teammates under the bus by name. He did once say the line was having some “protection problems” after the bitter loss to the Steelers, a team the Colts had easily beaten just a month earlier
3. He never had a early 2000s NE defense, or a Pittsburgh D. His best defenses were mid pack, and the 2006 D turned it on and played lights out, and they won the SB….coincidence? um, no.
4. He still led the Colts from the biggest halftime deficit in an AFCC game, and did it against the arch-rival Patriots.
5. He was one of a kind. He literally was his own OC…beyond what Marino did, or anyone else. He could process a defense so fast it was unreal. Teams tried to stop him by disguising defenses, and that worked…for a while. And then he figured that out.
6. In the words of that maintenance worker in Rudy: “in this world you ain’t gotta prove nothin’ to no one.”

He will go down as one of the best to play the game ever. One ring notwithstanding. It’s a team game. There are plenty of times Peyton got them into position to win/score, only to have the D let them down, or some dumbass backup RB botch a catch and it gets picked (2007 playoffs, Kenton Keith, vs. Chargers)

If he never plays again, it takes nothing away from what kind of QB he was…only the team (defense) he had to NOT help him….we all saw the high flying/no defense teams this year take early exits at the hands of teams with superior defenses. The Pats are the exception, and that’s b/c they got Pac 12 member Denver in the Divisional Rd, and really should have lost against the self-defeating Ravens.

eagleswin says:Jan 31, 2012 9:07 AM

nationalmediacansuckit says:

You mean then RING, right. Look Indy has rode this guy and now wheels are coming off. Indy has never had never had a good team, just a great QB who hid every single flaw and this season proved it.

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Actually it didn’t. All it proved is that the colts current team was poorly constructed with the biggest oversight being a decent backup QB. With a decent backup that team wins a few more games. Not to mention the Colts have suffered a talent drain the last year or two.

It can be argued that the biggest problem with Indy besides the Polians was the power and money they gave Peyton. With all the money they gave him it limitted the players they could surround him with. With him demanding every snap in every game and every practice it limitted the growth of any would be backup and the desire of any halfway decent QB back him up.

There is really no evidence that Peyton ever put the team before himself, in any capacity, no matter what the PR spin was regarding his previous contract negotiations.

CKL says:
Jan 31, 2012 8:53 AM
It may mean nothing at all and just be a misstatement, but when Eli was asked a question about Peyton yesterday, he said “played” then quickly corrected it to the present tense.

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Right, Goobs. Peyton will play again. He will be throwing football to unicorns while rainbows are flowing in background.

Rob Lowe’s source is probably the guy that was catching the balls from Peyton. “I don’t think he can play no more… if I was him I would retire” … then Rob Lowe put his twist to be right hopefully some day down the road.

hairpie says:Jan 31, 2012 9:16 AM

vuudu says:
Jan 31, 2012 12:02 AM
Not a Colts fan, but it will be atrocious if we don’t get to see him play again. He deserved more than just one ring. Polian absolutely surrounded him with crap.

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you have to be kidding. he was surrounded with a hand picked all star team on offense every single year he played.

Two unnamed “league-affiliated doctors with experience in spinal fusion surgery”
Translation: Two NFL talking heads that do not have anybody’s best interest in mind except the NFL’s and their pocketbook.

eagleswin says:Jan 31, 2012 9:32 AM

descendency says:
Jan 31, 2012 2:36 AM

The Colts have him 26 million as a sign of respect for what he’s done for the organization. They also gave him an entire year to heal up and be ready. When he’s Peyton Manning, that isn’t a mistake. You do that kind of thing for Peyton.

He’s not a random backup linebacker you make pass a physical or even a mediocre QB. He’s basically the Colts over the last 20 years.

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The Polians were fired because of their bad decision making. One of those decisions was to tie up a quarter of the salary cap on a player who couldn’t pass a physical. You say respect, i say mistake. Their refusal to acknowledge that Manning wouldn’t be able to play last year until the last moment is part of what doomed the team.

Manning was drafted in 1998 and last played in the 2010 season so by my count he’s only played 12 years. Not even close to 20.

I guess retire then retire, why wait? Sounds like you’d rather be on the Colts time frame then your own, but this was all your choice. Makes no sense to me, but what do I know, I’ve only seen Jerry Rice, Brett Favre, Warren Moon, Joe Montana, Drew Brees, Ladanian Tomlinson, Randall Cunningham, be told by their once original teams they couldn’t play anymore because of an injury or they were too washed up, only to flip the middle finger and have good success with other teams. Somewhere Joe Thiesman is thinking he wish he could have gotten this sympathy before he retired, I mean he basically got in a car accident out on the field.

Manning, this surgery was by your choice. Any of those guys I mentioned could have had a questionable surgery, they chose to play through all their injuries because they wanted to play, Montana had no choice but to get his, but unlike you, he was on his time frame to retire, you are on the Colts I guess, right?

For some reason your “bulging” disc was too painful at a position where you barely get hit at anyway. It was your choice, now you can’t throw a football, its on you, that you actually thought opening your neck up wasn’t gonna have some sort of setback. You never were the most athletic quarterback, but someone must have told you that this type of surgery was risking your career. Again, I’m not sure, your whole career you were surrounded by fools, so I’m not surprised you took advise from the same medical staff that treated Marvin Harrison.

Let’s not hold you back from retiring, you were never a guy that liked being out of your comfort zone and were constantly surrounded by people you were head and shoulders greater then including your coaches. Now its going to be a little tough for you, so we get it, you could comeback from this but won’t, can’t and again your listening to what the Colts are telling you to do.

realitypolice says:Jan 31, 2012 10:00 AM

Congratulations to the 400,000 people with the keen eye and sharp wit to pounce upon the fact that Peyton only has one ring. In noticing that, you become members of the elite club called “everyone”.

Nice j0b.

blackqbwhiterb says:Jan 31, 2012 10:03 AM

Don’t you all know how this works? He’s waiting til after the Super Bowl to have the retirement press conference etc….then NFL exec, someday Commish, then owner of the Colts when Twitter-boy dies in 20 years….

sorry to go slightly off-topic, but I didn’t realize Peyton got the Super Bowl MVP. Nice gesture.. but it should have went to Addai. As a Bears fan that’s the only thing I remember, is the Bears being run over and Grossman sitting there wetting himself the whole game. Peyton just checked in for coronation.

Back on topic, Peyton should be an easy HOFer for regular season win records, passing yards, he was my fav qb. I’d call myself a Peyton fan, not a colt fan, I’m glad I made a special, long drive to Indy to see him do his thing in person a few years ago, front row center, some of the best $300 I ever spent.

Those were the biggest name in the game for an entire decade.
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And their names have been replaced by Aaron Rodgers, Calvin Johnson, Cam Newton, and Adrian Peterson. Stars come, get old, and get replaced by younger stars. That’s the way it works.

dkhhuey says:Jan 31, 2012 10:38 AM

Quite sad actually. The man goes from never missing a game to pretty much never going to play again in the blink of an eye! The man was the face of the NFL for quite some time and never a whiff of a scandal or bad publicity, outside of a tiff with a kicker once in a great while!

I would love to see him come back but it appears that is highly unlikely! Too bad – he was a class act and fun to watch!

50% Peyton is probably better than 100% of most clipboard holders, but I wouldn’t bother with that at all. Make the man a QB coach with an eventual goal of offensive coordinator. He called his own plays, y’know.

mikebrownistheworstownerinprosports says:Jan 31, 2012 11:15 AM

I love when people say Peyton was “less successful” in the playoffs than other QB’s.

Please…Name me some QB’s in this era that were better. Other than Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger. You can’t.

And don’t even say Eli, because he hasn’t won this superbowl yet, and he’s missed the playoffs entirely a few times. To me, that’s no better than going “one-and done”.

Brett Favre only went to 2 superbowls. Same for Peyton. Marino went to one. Even for greats, it’s not easy. There are 32 teams in the league and at least 12 are great teams every year.

Peyton had to compete against the likes of the Steelers, Patriots, and Ravens every…single…season. I think it’s a miracle he made a pair of Superbowls against that type of competition with such a sorry team. 2-14 folks.